diff --git a/data/kart_characteristics.xml b/data/kart_characteristics.xml
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+++ b/data/kart_characteristics.xml
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+<?xml version="1.0"?>
+<kart-properties>
+    <!-- ********** Physics ********** -->
+
+    <!-- Suspension
+        stiffness: kart's suspension stiffness.
+        rest: Length of suspension when at rest.
+        travel-cm: maximum movement of suspension - in cm!!
+        exp-string-response: dampen the suspension spring reaction
+            exponentially.
+        max-force: Maximum suspension force -->
+    <suspension stiffness="140" rest="0.3" travel-cm="29"
+        exp-spring-response="false" max-force="12000" />
+
+    <!-- Values related to stability of the chassis: damping, and reduced
+            impact of roll.
+        downward-impulse-factor: A speed proportional impulse applied each
+            frame that pushes the vehicle onto the ground.
+        track-connection-accel: An artificial force that pulls a wheel to
+            the ground if its off ground. Reduces the affect if a kart loses
+            contact with the ground (i.e. it then can't steer or accelerate
+            anymore).
+        smooth-flying-impulse: apply a torque impulse to flying kart to keep
+            them parallel to the ground. -->
+    <stability roll-influence="0.3"
+               chassis-linear-damping="0.2"
+               chassis-angular-damping="0"
+               downward-impulse-factor="5"
+               track-connection-accel="2"
+               smooth-flying-impulse="25" />
+
+    <!-- Turning
+        turn-radius: The turn radius of the kart at
+            a given speed. The actual steering angle is dependent on the
+            wheel base of the kart: radius = wheel_base/sin(steering_angle).
+            The values below define that at speed 0 the turn radius is 2, at
+            speed 10 the radius is 7.5 etc.
+            The actual turn radius is piece-wise linearly interpolated. This
+            allows for tighter turning at lower speeds, and also avoids that
+            the kart becomes too hard to control at high speed (speeds of higher
+            than 23 can only be reached with powerups).
+        time-full-steer: This is the amount of change in steering depending
+            on current steering. So if the steering is between 0 and 0.5,
+            the time-for-steering-change is 0.15. If the current steering is
+            between 0.5 and 1.0, the time-for-steering-change is 0.25.
+            The speed is used as dt/time-for-steering-change.
+            In short: steering at less than halfway is somewhat faster,
+            which should avoid oversteering (by pressing the key for too long),
+            but slower when you want to steer more. Overwall with the current
+            settings the expected time-to-full-steer is:
+            0.5 * 0.25 + 0.5 * 0.15 = 0.2 ... which is overall the same
+            time we had previously. -->
+    <turn turn-radius="0:2.0 10:7.5 25:15 45:30"
+          time-full-steer ="0:0.15 0.5:0.15 0.5:0.25 1.0:0.25"
+          time-reset-steer="0.1" />
+
+    <!-- Speed and acceleration
+        power and max-speed (in m/s) have 3 values, one for low, medium, and hard.
+        brake-factor: Value used when braking.
+        brake-time-increase: The brake force is multiplied by
+            (1+brake_time*brake_time_increase - i.e. the longer the brake was
+            pressed, the harder the kart will brake.
+        max-speed-reverse-ratio is the percentage of max speed for reverse gear.
+      -->
+    <engine power="450 475 500 510"  max-speed="17 21 23 25" brake-factor="11.0"
+            brake-time-increase="6" max-speed-reverse-ratio="0.3" />
+
+    <!-- Simulated gears
+        switch-ratio defines at what ratio of the maximum
+            speed what gear is selected, e.g. 0.25 means that if the speed is
+            bigger or equal to 0.25 x maxSpeed then use gear 1, 0.5 means if
+            the speed is bigger or equal to 0.5 x maxSpeed then gear 2.
+            gear-power-increase contains the increase in max power (to simulate
+            different gears), e.g. 2.5 as first entry means: 2.5*maxPower in gear 1
+            | first  | second |  third | . -->
+    <gear switch-ratio="0.25 0.7 1.0" power-increase="2.2 1.7 1.3" />
+
+    <!-- Mass of a kart -->
+    <mass value="225" />
+
+    <!-- Wheels
+        damping-relaxation/compression: for bullet
+        damping parameters
+        Radius and width of wheel
+        front-right, front-left, rear-right and rear-left give the
+            position of the physics raycast wheels relative to the center of
+            gravity. Default is to use the corners of the chassis to attach
+            the wheels to. -->
+    <wheels damping-relaxation="35"  damping-compression="5" radius="0.25">
+        <front-right position="0.38 0 0.6"   />
+        <front-left  position="-0.38 0 0.6"  />
+        <rear-right  position="0.38 0 -0.6"  />
+        <rear-left   position="-0.38 0 -0.6" />
+    </wheels>
+
+
+    <!-- ********** Visuals ********** -->
+
+    <!-- Skidding
+        increase: multiplicative increase of skidding factor in each frame.
+        decrease: multiplicative decrease of skidding factor in each frame.
+        max: maximum skidding factor = maximum increase of steering angle.
+        time-till-max: Time till maximum skidding is reached.
+        visual: Additional graphical rotation of kart. The graphical rotation
+            of the kart also determines the direction the kart is driving to
+            when skidding is stopped.
+        visual-time: How long it takes for the visual skid to reach maximum.
+        revert-visual-time: how long it takes when stopping a skid to revert
+            the visual skid and bring visuals and physics in sync again.
+        angular-velocity: Angular velocity to be used for the kart when skidding.
+        min-speed: Minimum speed a kart must have before it can skid. Must be
+            >0, otherwise the kart can skid at the start of the race.
+        time-till-bonus: How long a kart needs to skid in order to get a bonus.
+        bonus-force: A speedup applied to the kart whick skidded for a while.
+        bonus-time: How long the bonus-force is applied.
+        bonus-force: Additional engine force (this is used to offset the fact
+            that turning after skidding (e.g. to correct direction) often uses
+            up the skid bonus).
+        post-skid-rotate-factor: a factor to be used to determine how much
+            the chassis of a kart should rotate to match the graphical view.
+            A factor of 1 is identical, a smaller factor will rotate the kart
+            less (which might  feel better).
+        physical-jump-time: Time for a physical jump at the beginning of a skid.
+            graphical-jump-time: Time for a graphics-only jump at the beginning
+            of a skid.
+        reduce-turn-min/max: The steering done by the controller (which is in
+            [-1,1]) is mapped to [reduce-turn-min, reduce-turn-max] when skidding
+            is active (for left turn, right turn will use [-max, -min]). The
+            effect is that while you skid (say left) you can adjust the direction
+            of the turn the kart is doing somewhat by steering to the left and right,
+            but you will always keep on doing a left turn, just more or less. -->
+    <skid increase="1.05" decrease="0.95" max="2.5" time-till-max="0.5"
+          visual="1.25" visual-time="0.7" revert-visual-time="0.7"
+          min-speed="10"  time-till-bonus="1.0 3.0"
+          bonus-speed="4.5 6.5" bonus-time="3.0 4.0"
+          bonus-force="250 350"
+          physical-jump-time="0" graphical-jump-time="0.4"
+          post-skid-rotate-factor="1"
+          reduce-turn-min="0.2" reduce-turn-max="0.8" />
+
+    <!-- Camera
+        Distance between kart and camera.
+        forward-up-angle: Angle between camera and plane of kart (pitch)
+            when the camera is pointing forward
+        backward-up-angle: Angle between camera and plane of kart (pitch)
+            when the camera is pointing backwards. This is usually
+            larger than the forward-up-angle, since the kart itself
+            otherwise obstricts too much of the view. -->
+    <camera distance="1.0" forward-up-angle="15"
+            backward-up-angle="5" />
+
+    <!-- Jump animation
+        animation-time: only if the estimated time for a jump is larger
+            than this value will the jump animation being
+            shown. -->
+   <jump animation-time="0.5" />
+
+    <!-- Leaning related parameters, i.e. slightly leaning the karts when
+         driving a fast curve.
+        max: maximum leaning (i.e. when steering as much as possible at highest
+            speed), in degrees.
+        speed: Speed with which the leaning changes (in degree/second). -->
+    <lean max="8.6" speed="5.0" />
+
+
+    <!-- ********** Gameplay ********** -->
+
+    <!-- Startup
+        If a kart starts within the specified time after 'go',
+        it receives the corresponding bonus from 'boost'. Those
+        fields must have the same size, and must be sorted by
+        increasing times. -->
+    <startup time="0.3 0.5"
+             boost="6 3" />
+
+    <!-- Rescue
+        time: How long it takes the kart to be raised.
+        height: how height the kart will be raised before it is
+            dropped back onto the track.
+        vert rescue offset: used to raise karts a bit higher before
+            releasing them on the ground after a rescue. Used to avoid
+            resetting karts into the track. Not sure if this is still
+            necessary. -->
+    <rescue vert-offset="0.0" time="1.2" height="2" />
+
+    <!-- Explosion
+        time: how long it takes before the kart can drive again (this
+            determines how height the kart is being thrown).
+        invulnerability-time: how long a kart will be invulnerable
+            after being hit by an explosion.
+        radius: Kart closer to this value will be affected by
+            an explosion as well.  -->
+    <explosion time="2" radius="5"
+               invulnerability-time="6" />
+
+    <!-- Nitro
+        engine-force: additional engine power
+        consumption: nitro consumption - heavier characters can be set
+            to need more nitro than lighter character.
+        small-container: how much energy a small container gives.
+        big-container: how much energy a big container gives.
+        max-speed-increase: How much the speed of a kart might exceed
+            its maximum speed (in m/s).
+        duration: How long the increased speed will be valid after
+            the kart stops using nitro (and the fade-out-time starts).
+        fade-out-time: Duration during which the increased maximum
+            speed due to nitro fades out.
+        max: How much nitro a kart can store. -->
+    <nitro engine-force="500" consumption="1" small-container="1" big-container="3"
+           max-speed-increase="5" duration="1" fade-out-time="2" max="20" />
+
+    <!-- Slipstream
+        length: How far behind a kart slipstream works
+        width: how wide slipstream works furthest away from the kart.
+        collect-time: How many seconds of sstream give  maximum benefit
+        use-time: How long the benefit will last.
+        add-power: Additional power due to sstreaming. 1 = +100%
+        min-speed: Minimum speed necessary for slipstream to take effect.
+        max-speed-increase: How much the speed of the kart might exceed
+            its normal maximum speed.
+        duration: How long the higher speed lasts after slipstream stopped
+            working.
+        fade-out-time: How long the slip stream speed increase will
+            gradually be reduced.  -->
+    <slipstream length="10" width="2" collect-time="2" use-time="5"
+                add-power="3" min-speed="10" max-speed-increase="5"
+                duration="1" fade-out-time="2" />
+
+
+    <!-- ********** Items ********** -->
+
+    <!-- Anvil
+        weight: The additional weight an anvil adds to a kart.
+        speed-factor: The additional slowdown caused by the anvil.
+        time: The time an anvil is active. -->
+    <anvil time="2.0" weight="150"  speed-factor="0.2" />
+
+    <!-- Parachute
+        friction: The friction increase when a parachute is attached.
+        time: The time an attached parachute is active
+        time-other: The time a parachute attached from other kart works
+        lbound-fraction: The lower bound fraction of speed when lost will
+            detach parachute. E.g. at nearly 0 speed, only 5% of speed
+            need to be lost.
+        ubound-fraction: The upper bound fraction of speed when lost will
+            detach parachute. E.g. at max-speed 30% of speed must be lost.
+        max-speed: A factor that decides the impact of rate of speed
+            (distance between bounds) -->
+    <parachute friction="2.0" time="4.0" time-other="8.0"
+               lbound-fraction="0.95" ubound-fraction="0.7" max-speed="23" />
+
+    <!-- Bubblegum
+        time: How long the bubblegum lasts.
+        speed-fraction: To what fraction of top-speed the speed is reduced.
+        torque: To rotate the kart somewhat.
+        fade-in-time: How quick the slowdown takes effect.
+        shield-time: How long the bubblegum shield lasts -->
+    <bubblegum time="1" speed-fraction="0.3" torque="500" fade-in-time="0.01"
+               shield-time="10.0" />
+
+    <!-- Zipper
+        time: Time a zipper is active.
+        force: Additional zipper force.
+        speed-gain: One time additional speed.
+        max-speed-increase: Additional speed allowed on top of the
+            kart-specific maximum kart speed.
+        fade-out-time: determines how long it takes for a zipper
+            to fade out (after 'time'). -->
+    <zipper time="3.5" force="250.0" speed-gain="4.5" max-speed-increase="15"
+            fade-out-time="1.0" />
+
+    <!-- Swatter
+        duration: how long can the swatter be active.
+        distance: How close a kart or an item must be before it can be hit.
+        squash-duration: How long a kart will remain squashed.
+        squash-slowdown: percentage of max speed that a kart is
+            restricted to. -->
+    <swatter duration="10" distance="3" squash-duration="5"
+             squash-slowdown="0.5" />
+
+    <!-- Plunger and rubber band handling
+        max-length: Te maximum length of rubber band before it snaps.
+        force: The force a plunger/rubber band applies to the kart(s).
+        duration: The duration a rubber band acts.
+            in-face-time determines how long it takes before a plunger
+            in your face is removed. -->
+    <plunger band-max-length="50" band-force="1500" band-duration="1"
+             band-speed-increase="7" band-fade-out-time="3"
+             in-face-time="3 4 4.5 4.5" />
+</kart-properties>